PHOTO GALLERY
The Saint Vincent football team survived a last-second end zone pass, holding on for a 31-27 victory on the road at Geneva College in both teams' Presidents' Athletic Conference opener.
The Bearcats got on the board quickly, as
Michael Navarro completed a long pass to
DJ Oceant-Kelly, who was wide open in the middle of the field. Oceant-Kelly had an easy path to the end zone, as the play covered 64 yards.
Sam Elliott's point after gave the Bearcats an early 7-0 lead.
At the 6:25 mark of the first, Geneva answered back, connecting on a 38-yard touchdown pass that tied the game at 7-7.
On the next drive, Navarro completed a 38-yard pass to
Jhanard Dorsett and a 19-yard pass to
Ariel Martinez, setting up a 13-yard scoring run by Dorsett. After the PAT by Elliott, Saint Vincent had regained the lead, 14-7, with 4:27 to go in the first quarter.
Later in the first,
Damon Black Jr put the Bearcats into scoring position with a 43-yard punt return. The drive carried over into the second quarter, and the Golden Tornadoes were able to stop SVC at the 4-yard line, and Elliott came on to hit a 21-yard field goal that made it 17-7.
Once again, Geneva came back, as Bryan Stafford tallied 63 yards in three consecutive runs, the last of which was 39 yards to the end zone.
The teams went into the locker room with SVC in front 17-14, but the Bearcats needed some key defensive plays to maintain the lead. First,
Mykel Jackson recovered a fumble caused by
Jean Cherilus. Later,
Cameron Mack forced a fumble that was picked up by
Izaak Gray. At the end of the half,
Le'ton Quao came up with an interception in the end zone.
In the third quarter, Geneva took its first lead of the game when Trewon Marshall broke free for a 49-yard scoring run. The extra point attempt never got off the ground after a poor snap, leaving the score 20-17 in favor of the hosts.
The Bearcats came back with the same play that worked in the first quarter, as Navarro rolled left and connected with a wide-open Oceant-Kelly. This time, the play covered 73 yards, as SVC went back in front, 24-20.
Geneva then put together a 12-play, 72-yard drive, with all 12 plays on the ground. The final run was by Stafford, who scored from one yard out, to give Geneva a 27-24 lead.
Navarro was intercepted on the next drive by Nick Hogue, who hauled in a long pass attempt at the Geneva 8-yard line. However, the SVC defense held and forced a Geneva punt.
SVC took over at their own 46 with 8:18 remaining, and constructed an 8-play drive. Navarro connected with Oceant-Kelly for 21 yards to move the ball to the 10, then Navarro called his own number on a keeper, taking the ball to the one.
Mike Stasko fought his way into the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown, as SVC went back to the lead, 31-24.
Geneva took over with 4:41 left in the fourth, and slowly worked the ball downfield. With 1:31 to go, the hosts were faced with a fourth-and-10 from the Bearcat 48, but Stafford completed a pass to Marshall, who broke down the right sideline for 23 yards to keep the drive alive. After three straight running plays failed resulted in just four yards, Stafford was forced to go to the air, and threw a pass to the corner of the end zone. Harrison Kozlow had a chance to make the catch, but SVC's
AJ Jean-Baptiste broke it up at the last second, securing the win for the Bearcats.
Offensively, Oceant-Kelly established a new Saint Vincent single-game receiving record with 174 yards on just four catches. Black had 11 receptions for 79 yards, while Martinez caught 7 passes for 47. Navarro was 27 of 38 on the evening for 362 yards.
On the ground, Dorsett carried the ball 14 times for 45 yards.
Defensively, Saint Vincent caused 7 fumbles by Geneva, recovering two.
Cameron Mack led the way with 10 tackles, while
Izaak Gray and
Hauns White had six each.
Saint Vincent is now 2-1 overall, 1-0 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference. The Bearcats will be on the road on Saturday, September 23, facing Grove City at 7PM.
